Metal detector enthusiast David Booth was "stunned" to learn that four Iron Age gold torcs, dating to late Roman times, could bring him over UK£1m. The torcs were discovered in September 2009 in Stirlingshire, Scotland. (photo & video)

On its website, BBC America has posted a series of videos on the Freer and Sackler Galleries exhibit Falnama: Behind the Book of Omens, the exhibit, which runs through January 24, 2010. The exhibit focuses on "a group of rare and unusual manuscripts that were once used to explore the unknown through divination in 16th- and 17th-century Iran and Turkey."

An Italian scientist claims to have reproduced the image on the Shroud of Turin using only materials and techniques known in the Middle Ages. Luigi Garlaschelli, who will present his findings at a conference, said, "The result obtained clearly indicates that this could be done with the use of inexpensive materials and with a quite simple procedure."

The 5th century skeleton of a man, discovered in 1972 in Gloucester, England, has been identified as a Goth, originating from east of the Danube River. Experts feel that the man was most likely a Roman soldier.

Restoration work at England's Canterbury Cathedral has uncovered oak roof rafters dating to the time of William the Conqueror. While much of the cathedral's roof has been destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries, some of the 11th century timbers survive.

In the mid-16th century, Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's vicar-general, began the collecting of London parish records. Now 18 million of these records will be available on the ancestry.co.uk website.

Historians have long held that Richard III was killed at Bosworth field in retribution for his slaying of his nephews, the young, rightful heirs, but new evidence may show a different motive: a decade-old power struggle between Richard and William Stanley.

Matthew Saunders, honorary director of The Friends of Friendless Churches in Mundon, England, reports that the organization has received a UK£138,000 grant from English Heritage to preserve St Mary's Church, the medieval chapel of a manor house. (photo)

A new study shows that some Lebanese men carry genes traceable to Western Europe, a heritage, say researchers, from Crusaders who established settlements and castles in the country in the 11th through 13th centuries.

The discovery of the wrecks of five 3rd - 5th century Roman shipwrecks off the coast of the Italian island of Ventotene has excited the world of Roman-era research. "It is like an underwater museum," said one expert.

The detailed service records of 250,000 soldiers who served during the Hundred Years War is now availa le to view online. The website, sponsored by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), was the brainchild of Anne Curry of the University of Southampton and Dr Adrian Bell of the University of Reading.

Researchers believe that the skeleton of a young man found at Stirling Castle in Scotland may be those of a knight killed in battle in the early 15th century. The bones were discovered in the castle's chapel in 1997.

Richard II's recipe for cooking a porpoise is now available online. The recipe is included in a new digitized version of The Forme of Cury, the 15th century text long used by historians to re-create medieval recipes. (video)

Before the trumpet curled into its present configuration, was the Lituus, an 8.5 foot long instrument last heard 300 years ago. Now new software has allowed the "lost" instrument to be recreated. (photos)

18-year-old Conor Sandford of Kilmore, Ireland believed he was picking up a soda can ring from the hole on his father's farm. What he actually found was a 12th century silver ring, "very well-preserved, and it was relatively unworn." (photo)

An important link between the joined histories of England and Spain remains covered by wooden panels in a ruined church in Soria, Spain. The panels depict the murder of St. Thomas a Becket, an act that sat heavily on the shoulders of king Henry II of England. (photo)

A team of archaeologists using a geophysical survey have discovered what is believed to be Capel y Groes, a grange chapel built in 1165 and connected to nearby Strata Florida Abbey. The church was last recorded on maps in the mid 19th century and considered "lost" since that time.

The World Digital Library, Unesco's project to "promote curiosity and understanding across cultures," has launched its website with 1,200 documents ranging from a" 1,000-year-old Japanese novel to the earliest known map to mention America by name."

A spring walk in the English countryside can be a history lesson for careful observers. The Time Team's resident landscape archaeologist, Stewart Ainsworth, offers hints on "How to read landscapes like an archaeologist."